Spousal support and dyadic adjustment in the early postpartum period

ABSTRACT

In the study, we aimed to investigate the effects of perceived spousal support and dyadic adjustment on the psychological well-being of women in the early postpartum period. This descriptive and correlational study consisted of 367 women giving birth in the postpartum department between 15th July and 31st October 2022. The data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Perceived Spousal Support Among Women in Early Postpartum Period (PSSAWEPP), the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS). The average scores of PSSAWEPP, RDAS, and PWBS in the mothers were found as 61.79 ± 7.73, 54.16 ± 6.28, and 45.87 ± 5.74, respectively. The elevated scores of perceived spousal support (β = 0.234, p < .001) and dyadic adjustment (β = 0.270, p < .001) of women led to a significant increase in the level of psychological well-being. In conclusion, the support received by women from spouses and dyadic adjustment affect the psychological well-being of women in the early postpartum period.

KEYWORDS:

• Dyadic adjustment
• early postpartum period
• midwifery
• psychological well-being
• spousal support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Credit authorship contribution statement

SK contributed toconceptualization of the study, methodology, software, data curation, writing the original draft. RC contributed toconceptualization of the study, methodology, software, data curation, writing the original draft. SDY contributed to conceptualization of the study, methodology, software, data curation, supervision, writing review, and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.